A brass Steve Shufton Okito Box recently came my way. It's thick and meaty, with beveled edges and features that would make any Okito Box enthusiast quite happy. Charlie Miller might have labeled it "a man's box." One of Shufton's modifications was to raise the height of the box to accommodate 5 coins, so 4 half dollars rattle nicely inside the box because of the extra headroom. If he decides to make these in dollar size, that would be cool.

Hey, here's a little-known coinbox fact: There's actually a whole darn channel on Youtube that calls itself "Okito Box". Who knew? Have a look, and you'll see bits of odd and sometimes interesting explorations of this prop in this post-Rothian (his book, that is, David's still around) world. For instance, there's this: [youtube]http://youtu.be/NW5g5Hym7Uk[/youtube]

I've been continuing work on the Okito box since this was last discussed.

Does anyone know if Frank Thompson's work on the box has been published anywhere?

(I checked the Conjuring Archive and there are just a very few references: Just a Scotty York reference and one sequence in Apocalypse, as well as related credit for the Latta and Bossi moves in print.)

From an article by Schwarzman in MUM, May 2007:"Perhaps someday Frank's [Thompson] notes, like the Phoenix, will emerge again. They were in safekeeping with Phil Thomas, who had an unfortunate fire at the old Yogi Magic Shop location, and many of the damaged books and boxes that were removed have yet to be unpacked. At this writing it is unknown if, or how much of Frank's notes survived. I hope that they did. There is a wealth of unpublished material there. Perhaps someday there will be a book. Who knows?"

H. Sawa has a fun routine with patter about the trains in Japan.Joe Cole published some of his work - also looks fun.But if you want to play outside the usual box try Bob Farmer's Mojo Boogie Box routine.

Rumor has it Curtis Kam is tipping some of his coinbox work in his current lecture. There may also be a video. Curtis?

rkosby wrote:I don't like Okito boxes. I owned a Johnson box until I dented the lid. There are a few effects I like though.

Chad Long's backfire in Okito Reverse-Embly on DVD 1.Chastain Chriswell's "Outside the Box" especially when all the coins go back into the box at once.Bill Goodwin's finale.Mohammed Bey's routine and the extras from Edward J. McLaughlin.

Ray

I finally saw Chad Long's routine: really, really nice.

Does anyone know if Bill Goodwin's finale has been published somewhere?

Jonathan Townsend wrote:H. Sawa has a fun routine with patter about the trains in Japan.Joe Cole published some of his work - also looks fun.But if you want to play outside the usual box try Bob Farmer's Mojo Boogie Box routine.

Rumor has it Curtis Kam is tipping some of his coinbox work in his current lecture. There may also be a video. Curtis?

I believe Curtis has completed a video with Penguin that is due out in a month or so?

"Okito made his original coin box from a pill box: a natural pre-existing object that people would recognize.NOW--what do you think your box SHOULD look like?The answer is ... nothing special, nothing unusual. No dragon!"

That is why I have rarely been impressed by any Okito Box routine using an "Okito Box." Reminds me too much of the nickels to dime thing. Even in a great routine and even if specs inspect it, I think it's very hard to dispel the notion that it must be gaffed in some way.

If I were at all concerned about making the box a “normal thing”, I suppose, in this day and age, it would be as simple as delivering a line or two from The Matrix and opening the box to reveal a red pill and a blue pill.

Curtis Kam wrote: I suspect the finale mentioned above is Bill’s sequence where the coins, the box,and the lid all pass through the magician’s hand.

Is that the same as this ...

Leonard Hevia wrote:Paul Cummins has a great Okito Box effect in his FASDIU book. It starts out as the basic illusion where the box is placed on the back of your fist and the coins penetrate through your hand. Then the box penetrates your hand, and then the lid also penetrates through your hand, one after the other!

The short answer is, no, the handling’s a bit different. Paul’s was published in Apocalypse.

The handling attributed to Billy Goodwin is, as far as Craig Ousterling and I can tell, Gordon Bruce’s. I’m told it appeared in a little manuscript or lecture notes that I’ve not seen. It’s the most elegant way that I know to accomplish this rather brutal effect.